Until the Stars Burn Out
by wishingforatypewriter
Summary: Anthology of Nalu oneshots. Multiple genres. First story: After Lucy gets hurt on a solo mission, Natsu's protective side emerges. Gildarts provides commentary.
1. According to Gildarts and Other Sources

_Disclaimer:_ I don't own Fairy Tail.

"Does it still hurt?" was the first thing Natsu asked as he came through Lucy's window. The girl in question was hobbling about the room as best she could with her knee brace on.

"I'll be fine," she evaded, shuffling laboriously from her vanity to the coffee table to reach for her fleuve d'étoiles. "At least I can walk on it now."

"Can she?" Happy pondered. "Lucy's walking like a penguin, right Natsu?"

The salmon haired boy stroked his chin thoughtfully. "I think you're right," he said after a moment. "That's definitely what you should cosplay as next, Luce."

"I don't have a hobby like that!" The celestial wizard began to stomp towards them in all her usual rage, momentarily forgetting her injury.

Before she could even release her pained hiss, Natsu picked her up and placed her back on top of her pink comforter.

After noticing the tears his partner was blinking back a great frustration rose within the dragon slayer. He looked down shamefully. How could he let this happen to her? "Lucy I'm-"

"It was just a misstep," she interrupted, attuned to his moods as ever. "It's really not as bad as it looks right now."

"Looks like you're in pain." He glanced at the blonde warily. "Why don't you have gramps' old girlfriend look at it?"

"You know Porlyusica-san doesn't like to be bothered. Besides, the injury isn't magic related. I just dislocated my knee. It's fine."

Natsu gave her a look that clearly conveyed how unconvinced he was, but otherwise let the topic go. "Do you want ice for it or something?"

Lucy knew from her experience over the last few days that telling him she could care for herself would be futile. "Maybe a hot towel?"

"I'll do you one better." Sitting at the edge of the bed he placed her legs in his lap and heated his hands.

"You better not burn me!" she warned. However, all the girl's worries drifted away as his comfortingly warm fingers began to massage her stiff muscles.

Lucy released a near inaudible sigh of contentment. If this was how he would treat her, she almost didn't mind the prospect of getting hurt from time to time. "You're kinda good at this, Natsu."

"Really? I'll do it for ya' any time." The guild wizard grinned at her with a mix of mischief and sweetness she constantly fought not to swoon over.

"Thanks," she exhaled when she felt the last of her soreness receding. "And same here, by the way."

The fire mage's eyes lit up at that. "Anytime?"

"Within reason." Lucy didn't even want to know what he had in mind with that. "I think I'm good to go now." With that she strapped her brace back on and got off the bed.

"Good to go where?" Natsu questioned.

"To the guild," she said. "I'm going to take a job."

"But you're not done healing yet," the dragon slayer pointed out.

"I'll manage." She waved his concern off and began her search for a pair of flat shoes.

"Luce, you can barely walk! You could hurt yourself more."

"I'll take the easiest one that pays well." she assured. "But I can't afford to keep laying around. My rent is due this week, and I have to buy groceries."

"We'll take care of it, right Happy?" he declared.

"Aye, sir!"

Lucy bit her lower lip pensively. "No, it wouldn't be right."

"How?" the exceed questioned. "We spend more time in here than you do."

"Don't just say it as though that's a normal arrangement!"

"Bear with it this one time, Lucy," the fire mage plead. "I can't let you get hurt again."

"_You didn't_," she told him for the umpteenth time. "I won't forgive you if you keep blaming yourself."

Still, the young dragon slayer couldn't make peace with the fact that she'd fallen from the sky and he hadn't been there to catch her.

Natsu shook his head. There was only one thing to do in a situation like this. "Alright. I'll pay your rent this month, you'll rest and get that weird sleeve off your leg and then we'll forget any of this ever happened."

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "You say that like you won't forget it all anyway. But if it means that much to you," she half limped back to her bed and got beneath the covers. "I _do_ need to catch up on my beauty sleep."

"Yeah, yeah." He knew her boundless vanity better than anyone. "Make a list of whatever you need from the market. I'll get it for you when I come back."

"Thanks you guys." Lucy nuzzled her face into the bedding which had already taken on the dragon slayer's scent. It never failed to soothe and excite her all at the same time.

Sometimes she didn't know what she would do without them.

* * *

Upon entering the guild, Natsu went straight for the board on which all the jobs were listed. After moment of deliberation he picked one. "200,000 jewels to subdue a clan of ogres."

"But Natsu, that's five hours away by train," Happy pointed out.

"It's for Lucy," he reasoned, more for himself than the exceed, even as his stomach began to churn at the thought. "Let's go, Happy."

"Aye sir!"

As the duo made their way out, Natsu was intercepted by none other than Gildarts.

"Gonna try and fight me again, Natsu?" the older man predicted.

"Not today. Rent's due. I have to go on a job."

Gildarts looked at the boy strangely. "I thought you built that house."

"It's Lucy's rent."

The orange haired wizard's eyebrows shot up. He never expected the little idiot to get _that_ serious with someone. Few bonds in this world were deeper than those between men and money.

"That brings back memories. I never thought I'd live to see a girl get her hooks that deep in you."

"Wait, you've got it all wrong," Natsu said in all his obliviousness. "Lucy's a celestial wizard. She uses keys, not hooks. But I have to go now. The train is leaving in an hour."

Watching the boy go, Gildarts smirked incredulously. In addition to paying his lady friend's rent, the dragon slayer was taking _a train_ to do so.

He'd heard the opinions of others around the guild regarding the nature of their relationship but today it was confirmed with his own eyes. Natsu Dragneel had actually fallen in love and he would be the very last to know it.

**Author's Notes: **Hey, everyone! This is likely going to be a compilation of the Nalu prompts I post on my tumblr. I'll probably revamp or expand on most of them before I post them here. Thanks for reading, guys! Reviews are much appreciated.


	2. Good Vibrations

Summary: Natsu sees something he shouldn't have in Lucy's underwear drawer. Set after the recent time skip.

"Lucy, what's this thing in your drawer?" Natsu questioned as soon as she came home from work one day, about a month after his return.

The blonde's mouth grew dry and her eyes widened with horror. In his hand was the small clitoral vibrator that Levy and Erza convinced her to buy on their trip to a certain novelty boutique three months prior. It had a soft, fuchsia silicon tip and a black dial at the base with four different settings.

Lucy never would have entertained the thought of such a purchase a year ago, but after his departure the chance of her being barged in on decreased tenfold; she decided to indulge.

But now…but now…

"What the hell is wrong with you?" She sent a sharp kick to his face and snatched the device back from him, her face burning crimson the entire time.

"I thought you said you were done kicking me," he complained while rotating his jaw. He hadn't been the only one to get stronger in the past year.

"Done kicking you for leaving," she defended. "Invading my privacy is an entirely different topic." Honestly, he never learned. An entire year away and all he had to show for it was more muscle definition. Not that it wasn't a welcome sight. "What were you even doing in there?"

"Looking for a shirt," he said, as though it were some self-evident fact. She'd rearranged things since he left, and the dragon slayer could barely find anything anymore. "Then I found that weird thing. It sort of looks like your lipstick, but it shakes and stuff."

"It's um…" her throat felt incredibly dry. "It's a massager." Half truths and short explanations. That was how she was going to get out of this.

"Oh, you mean for your back?"

"Uh-huh." She heaved a sigh of relief, happy to have jumped a hurdle with that one.

"That's great! My shoulder's been killing me for a while now. Can I use it?"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Lucy raged, fighting the urge to hit him again just for suggesting it. Although she was glad for it on this particular occasion, it amazed her to no end how dense he could be. "I mean…it doesn't really work that well. I'll give you a real massage."

"You're so weird, Luce," Natsu said, noting her frazzled expression and the beads of sweat dotting her forehead.

"Yeah, yeah. Just lie down."

While he did this Lucy put the vibrator back at the bottom of her underwear drawer for lack of a better place to store it, and brought a bottle of lavender lotion out from the bathroom.

The celestial spirit mage wondered how she ended up in these situations as she mounted the bed with her knees on either side of him. She squeezed a generous amount of the lotion onto her hands and started massaging it into her partner's back.

"Natsu, what have you been doing to yourself?" She asked upon feeling the tension deep in his muscles.

"Training." She could tell he was grinning by the tone of his voice. "To protect everyone."

"You can relax a little bit," her eyes softened as she looked down at him. He had been working so hard for them this entire time."Honestly. I never thought I'd have to tell _you_ that." She applied a bit more pressure to work the knots out. "Feel any better?" the blonde asked after a few more minutes.

"Yeah. Thanks, Luce."

"No problem." She traced lazy patterns onto his back with her index finger. "You know, you could have just asked me before." If he hadn't accidentally come across her vibrator, who knows how long he would have went around like that.

He shrugged, turning over to face her. "You seemed pretty busy with your job and…"

"I'm never too busy for you." And it was true. She would always be there to take care of him, whether he liked it or not.

**Notes: **Hey, everyone! I know no one really stayed in Magnolia during the time skip, Lucy included, but I wrote this before 418 came out. I decided to post it because I thought it might still be funny. Thanks for reading!


	3. Lucy's Memoir

**Summary: **Lucy finishes her memoir and starts to tell her daughter about it.

"Lea, honey," Lucy called to her six year old daughter. "Can you hand me that ribbon on the counter?"

The small pink haired girl smiled and did as she was told. "Are you writing a new book, mommy?"

"I just finished the first draft," she said. "It's a surprise for when your dad comes home."

"Is this one about the ninjas in the east, too?" She stood on her tiptoes to glance at the manuscript.

"No, this one is a memoir," Lucy explained.

"What's that?"

"A nonfiction story about something in the life of the author." Her eyes drifted over the front page nostalgically. "This one is basically about everything that happened right after I joined the guild."

"Am I in it?" She asked with hopeful eyes.

"Not until the epilogue," the celestial mage laughed, pulling her daughter into her lap. "Otherwise, that would mean I had you when I was seventeen."

"But you're so pretty, mommy. You could be seventeen now!"

"Good girl." Lucy pecked her nose. "Happy taught you well. Now, what is it that you want?"

"I want to go with dad on an S-ranked job next time," she plead, brown eyes wide and endearing.

"Lea, you're still too young." She ran her fingers through the child's hair. "Something could happen to you."

"But I promise I'll be really careful! And dad would be with me so nothing bad would happen. AND, Emilie Eucliffe is the exact same age as me and her dad takes her on missions all the time!"

'Over Yukino's dead body, he does,' Lucy thought to herself, as her daughter continued to rant. The blonde shook her head at the thought. The usually reserved mage became a real tigress when her cubs were involved.

"...And she's my third biggest rival and I absolutely can't lose to her, mom...mom, are you listening?"

"Huh?" Lucy blinked. "Oh, of course. Honey, I think Em was exaggerating a bit when she said that. Anyway, when you get a little older you can go on any jobs you want all by yourself."

Pouting, she glanced up at her mother warily. "Promise?" She stuck out her pinky.

"I swear." They shook on it. "And a celestial spirit wizard never goes back on her word."

"I know, I know," she replied. "Can you tell me more about the book?"

"Sure." Lucy reached for the manuscript on her desk and turned to the table of contents. "Pick any chapter."

The child's small index finger stopped at the fourth tale. "Phantom."

"Alright. This one requires a bit of background," she began. "When I was sixteen I ran away from my childhood home and traveled for a year before I met your father and joined the guild. Now, when I was still new to Fairy Tail, my father paid a guild called Phantom Lord to bring me back home."

"Phantom Lord?" Lea pondered. "I've never heard of it."

"Hmm. You wouldn't have, would you?" As a writer, it always amazed her how much knowledge could be lost over a few short years. "But when I was younger it was one of the top guilds in the country, on the same level as Fairy Tail. The cornerstone of its dominance was five very powerful wizards."

"Who were they?"

"The Elemental Four: Aria of the great sky, Totomaru of the conflagration, Sol of the land, and Juvia of the deep."

"Juvia-san!" Lea gasped. "But she's in Fairy Tail!"

"She is now." Lucy smirked. "As is the person who was Phantom's strongest member, a dragon slayer so fearsome he's known as black steel."

"No way! Gajeel-san?" She couldn't imagine him threatening the guild with anything more than bad karaoke.

"Yup. He was pretty scary back then, if you can believe it. They attacked the guild hall and Team Shadow Gear. Then, while everyone went to retaliate, I was kidnapped. Phantom's Master Jose held me in a sky cell hundreds of feet above the ground. I," she paused thinking of an age appropriate way to say she kneed him in the groin.

"I did something that made him really mad and tried to escape, only to find that the only way out was down."

"Did you jump?" Lea asked.

"She did," Natsu affirmed as he climbed in through the window. "And I still think she had to be out of her mind."

"Aye," Happy agreed.

"Use the door, dad," Lea reprimanded.

Lucy smirked at this. Her princess. "As I was saying," she continued. "I jumped out of the sky cell-"

"Lea, your mom is crazy," Natsu inserted.

"Oh, shut up," she swatted at him playfully. "It's not like you weren't there to catch me."

"They were in looooooove," Happy purred into the youngest Dragneel's ear.

Lucy flicked his ear. "That does not embarrass us anymore. We're married."

The exceed sighed. "I know. I just thought I'd try for old time's sake."

"Now, where was I?" The celestial mage started.

Natsu smirked at his wife. "You were just getting to the part when I wiped the floor with Gajeel?"

"Really?" Lea exclaimed. "Even though he's a dragon slayer, too."

"You should have been there. It was a slaughter, Lea. He didn't even stand a chance." He plucked the girl from Lucy's lap.

"First, he got the roar of the fire dragon. Then I punched him so hard he spun around like this." He then twirled her around in the air.

"Wow!" She giggled.

"That's not quite how I remember it," Lucy chided, arms crossed.

"It's not good to tell lies, Natsu," Happy agreed.

"Alright," he scratched his head sheepishly. "Maybe it wasn't exactly like that, but I still beat him. I had to."

"How come dad?" The small pinkette questioned.

"They were gonna take your mom from me, squirt. I couldn't just let that happen."

Lucy couldn't help but smile at this. Looking back, it was on that day that she really started to love him. She just didn't figure it out until much later.

"Oh," the little girl said, thinking. "And then after that, you had me?"

"N-not just then, honey," Lucy laughed.

"Yeah, she was still kicking me out of her room, then. What a pain."

"Only because you wouldn't use the door like a normal human being! You still don't." She accused.

The six year old could only laugh at her goofy, madly in love parents while wondering absently when her own Fairy Ta(i)le would begin.

**Notes: **I think her full name would be Nashi Lea Dragneel, but everyone just calls her Lea. Anyway, thanks for reading, everyone!


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